Archive for February, 2009

The Brisbane Courier Mail reports that a woman is suing the St John Ambulance following her treatment at a surf carnival. The report says that she is alleging both negligence and that the treatment represented an assault, suggesting that she claims there was no effective consent. The case is in its early days and may of course settle out of court, but it will be interesting to see what the allegations are, and what the outcome is, should the matter proceed to a hearing.

Michael Eburn
22 February 2009

The tragedy of the Victorian bushfires has thrown up many legal issues. These are discussed in the programme ‘The Law Report’ originally broadcast on ABC Radio National on Tuesday 17 February, which included commentary from me on the litigation following the 2003 Canberra fires. You can listen to the programme from the ABC website: ABC Law Report Home

Michael Eburn
17 March 2009

The 2003 fires that devastated Canberra and the ACT have been the subject of court action in the ACT Supreme Court. The NSW Rural Fire Service, a defendant in the matter, tried to have the claim against it dismissed on the basis that the case was unarguable under the current law. On the 5th September 2008 the Court refused that application, and will now allow the matter to go to trial. You can read my commentary on this decision in ‘Canberra bushfires litigation’ (2009) 28 Fire Update, 1-4 published by the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre. The Fire Update is available from the Bushfire CRC website.

Michael Eburn
5 February 2008